


Head Over Feet

by WeissQueen



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Architect Marco, Artist Jean Kirstein, Barista Marco, Best Friends, Canon-Typical Behavior, College, Developing Friendships, Drinking, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Friendship/Love, M/M, Marco Bott/Jean Kirstein-centric, Minor Krista Lenz | Historia Reiss/Ymir, Students, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 19:27:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29954754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WeissQueen/pseuds/WeissQueen
Summary: "You've already won me over, in spite of me and don't be alarmed if I fall head over feet,And don't be surprised if I love you for all that you are, I couldn't help it its all your fault"-Driving Sasha to work at the coffee house one day leads to grumpy Art Student Jean crossing paths with a sunny tempered, Architecture Student and part time barista Marco.Another chance encounter later on a night out with friends sparks the start of the best friendship Jean has ever had. Marco just seems to understand him despite his abrasive nature and the two are soon inseparable. University is suddenly looking up with a circle of new friends and plenty of inspiration to draw. Wouldn't it be a shame if things suddenly became really complicated?Developing friendships, classes, part time jobs, bad clubs, loud friends, terrible drunken food choices and a lot of laughs mixed in with maybe falling in love with your best friend along the way? Welcome to the University life of one Jean Kirschtein
Relationships: Marco Bott/Jean Kirstein
Comments: 3
Kudos: 18





	Head Over Feet

**Author's Note:**

> University AU!
> 
> Each chapter is based on a song and finishes on a Wednesday night - The weekly student night! Title is from Alanis Morissette's Head Over feet.  
> (Basically drawn from University experiences!) Expect lots of humour, Jean and Eren fighting and Marco being adorable.
> 
> Housemates are:
> 
> Jean, Connie, Sasha
> 
> Marco, Krista, Ymir
> 
> Annie, Reiner, Berthold
> 
> Eren, Armin, Mikasa
> 
> Friend group: Jean, Connie, Sasha, Marco, Ymir, Krista, Hitch, Annie, Marlowe, Reiner, Berthold
> 
> Levi & Hanji are University teachers and Erwin is a War Veteran who owns a Coffee House for what was supposed to be a 'relaxing retirement"
> 
>   
> Gift Fic for one of my best friends, I love you loads <3

“Jean!!” Sasha’s high pitched yelling and thundering footsteps came crashing steadily louder and he sighed, casting his pencil down onto his sketchbook as the whirlwind of a girl ran into the living room.

“Jean!! Please you gotta help me! I forgot I’m meant to cover a shift today and I’m gonna be late!”

“That sounds like a **you** problem” Jean quipped raising his eyebrows before turning his attention back to his sketches.

“Awhh come on Jean! Please??! I’ll owe you! If I walk now by the time I get there I’ll be super late and Erwin is gonna be mad at me! No worse... He’s gonna be disappointed in me and I just can’t take that!”

“So you want me to drive you?”

“Yes please!” Sasha’s hands clasped together earnestly, beseeching him with big puppy dog eyes that honestly.. had zero effect on him.

“So now you’re in a bind, my car is good enough for you?”

“What do you mean I..”

“Because I believe you said.. wait for it let me check” Jean pretended to pick up an imaginary book and flick through the pages, enjoying the way Sasha squirmed nervously, eyes darting back and forth to the clock “Oh yes here it is, Saturday 12th March 6:23pm you called my baby a ‘Piece ‘o shit Honda” he mimed closing the book and then glared at her, challenging a response.

For her part Sasha just wrang her hands nervously

“Awhh come on Jean! I only said that because she wouldn’t start! You know I love Buchwald... she’s always so clean and...”

“Why don’t you ask your co worker to drive you? You know the one with the brand new car their doctor daddy brought them that you compared my baby to?”

“Ahh! Well... Eren’s car may be brand new but... it’s like a mobile trash can! It smells! Come on Jean PLEASE! Iook, if you take me you can stay in the cafe! I’ll bring you coffee and snacks so you can sit and work on your art crap in peace and...”

“Art.... crap?”

“N-no!! Not crap! I meant..”

“No, no... I’m interested, please tell me exactly what you mean by ‘Art crap’ I have all the time in the world” Once again he mimed picking up an imaginary pencil and pretended to write in his book of Sasha’s wrongdoings causing her to squeak out

“Please stop! not the book of disappointment I can’t take it! Please Jean!! I’ll buy you dinner afterwards and everything! Whatever you want, just please stop writing!”

Raising his eyebrow he enjoyed another moment of her panicked pleading, dinner did sound good.. his freezer microwave meals weren’t exactly appealing and free coffee was a definite plus.

“Okay, fine. I’ll take you but I want that dinner”

“Yay!! Thank you so much oh my god Jean you’re a total lifesaver!”

“Fine just let me go get changed and use the bathroom and...”

“NO WE HAVE TO GO NOW!” She screeched and Jean cackled fishing his car key out of his pocket

“I’m just kidding, come on let’s go”

Pulling on his jacket and shoes and grabbing his sketchbook from the couch he grinned to himself as Sasha practically ran out of the door in front of him. Teasing Sasha was one of his favourite pastimes.

The ride over was only 10 minutes mostly filled with Sasha hurried words of gratitude.

“You can order whatever you want on me okay? Whenever your want something just come up and order and when I’m done we can go get dinner!”

As he pulled up Sasha jumped out the car and ran through the entrance to make it on time, leaving a chuckling Jean to park and walk over leisurely.

The coffee house Sasha worked at was pretty busy, mostly full of students like themselves on caffeine powered study sessions. Jean was actually pretty happy to be out of the house for once, it was nice to draw somewhere different but being a broke student it wasn’t always doable. So coffee on Sasha’s tab and a change of scenery to draw was definitely a plus. He set his sketching things down on an empty table and joined the queue to order, he could already see Sasha’s ponytail bouncing around behind the counter as she got straight to work. The queue was pretty long so he scrolled through his Instagram for a moment while deciding what to get, finally it was his turn and a guy with brown hair and a kind of permanently annoyed expression asked what he wanted.

“Oh hey, can I get a large macchiato and one of the cinnamon buns please? Sash is paying for this, I’m her roommate by the way”

“Oh your Sasha’s friend, yeah okay cool” The guy nodded picking up a sharpie “Whats your name dude?”

“It’s Jean”

The guy stared at him for a second, his scrutiny making Jean uncomfortable.

“How do you spell that?”

Oh, Jean almost laughed, he should have guessed, people never seemed to know how his name was spelt.

“Its J-E-A-N”

Instead of writing it down the guys eyebrows furrowed and he gave Jean a weird look that was really unsettling

“Is something.. wrong?”

“No just your name, isn’t it like.. pronounced Gene?”

“What? No that’s not how you say it, my names J _ean_ not Gene”

“Okay but its spelled like that”

“Wha? Just because it’s spelled that way doesn’t make it my name okay? My names Jean”

“But that’s not a name” The guy snickered “Thats just a mouthful of phlegm”

“E-excuse me?? What the fuck?”

“Sorry its just.. it sounds like something a pretentious fine art student would say” the guy snickered “My names Gene but you must call me Jean because I am a famous artiste~” He put on an mock French accent to accompany his taunt and Jean felt his jaw practically hit the floor

“I am not pretentious! What the actual hell is the matter with..”

“Oh my god you are a fine art student aren’t you? I fucking KNEW it!” He cackled and Jean was at boiling point, just who the fuck did this guy think he was talking to a customer like that?!

“What the hell is your problem man? Has anyone ever told you that you’re extremely fucking rude?!”

“Has anyone ever told you that you’ve got a face like a horse?”  
  
“Now hold on a goddamn minute!”  
  
“Eren, Do I need to call Erwin in here?” A clipped tone appeared from the left of them breaking up Jean and the dickhead barista’s (Eren?) fight. A guy with short dark hair had his arms crossed over his apron and was looking at Eren in the kind of reproachful way that gave the energy of a disappointed big brother.

“Wha.. no it’s…”

The other guy raised an eyebrow “Then I think you should go load the washers now and let me and Sasha take over”

Eren grumbled to himself snarking a quick “later horserace” at an incredulous Jean before storming off

“Im so sorry, want to follow me over?”” The guy sighed and picked up the cup Eren dropped as Sasha bounded over to serve the next customer with a cheerful “Hi Jean!” As she passed.

Jean followed over to the collection counter, out of the way of the queue the guy immediately apologised again

“Eren can be a bit much, I’m so sorry he spoke to you like that. I can fetch the manager if you’d like?”

“N..nah its alright” Jean shook his head, even though that guy was a class A prick he kinda didn’t want to cause hassle at work for Sasha and this guy “Is he always such a dick?”

The guy laughed softly as he started to make Jean’s drink “He can be a handful, I don’t think he’s really _got_ a customer service face”

“You can say that again, I’m surprised he hasn’t been fired already!”

“If the boss overheard I’m sure he would have been, oh you’re Sasha’s roommate right?”

“Yeah, but really I’m more like hers and Connie’s babysitter”

“I’ve met Connie, so I can imagine” the guy chuckled “You’re Jean right? Sasha talks about you sometimes”  
  
“Yeah that’s me, sorry I didn’t get your name”

“I’m Marco” The guy smiled reaching out and Jean shook his hand. Marco was a bit taller than him with dark hair parted in the centre giving him a quite boyish look, he had big brown eyes and his cheeks were scattered liberally with freckles. He had such a happy and honest face it made Jean feel a little more cheerful and less sore over his encounter with dick skin over there. Maybe happiness was infectious?

“Nice to meet ya, Sasha talks about you guys sometimes but honestly I kind of tune out most of her chatter” Jean admitted and Marco just laughed sunnily as he fixed up the steamed milk

“Now that I can believe, she is pretty much always 100 miles an hour!”

“You should see her on student night”

“Dare I ask?” Marco grinned before turning to get the cinnamon bun and popping it into the oven. He seemed pretty nice and chill, its just a shame Eren was such a huge dickwad.

“Are you a student too?” Jean asked as Marco brought the bun over and started finishing up his drink

“Yeah I study architecture, how about you?”

“Fine Art, but I do traditional sketching mostly”

“Oh that’s cool, pretty similar fields in a way, ” Marco smiled, putting whipped cream on the top of the drink accompanied with some chocolate flake pieces “I can plot the building frame and you can make them pretty. Here you go, I hope you enjoy”

“Thanks man you didn’t have to go to all that extra effort” Jean took note that none of that stuff was on the menu for that drink

“Nah its fine! An apology for Eren being so rude and not you know, kicking up a huge fuss like most people would” He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly and Jean couldn’t help but like him, he was just so … nice. The kind of guy that would be super chill to be friends with and hang out.

“Its fine its not yours or Sashes fault so.. you know” Jean shrugged “I guess when I want a refill I should just come straight to you instead”

‘Yeah, just come lean over this side if you want another and I’ll get it made”

‘Thanks a lot”

‘No worries! Happy sketching” Marco beamed at him before turning away to grab the next cup in his long line of drinks to make.

Walking back over to his table Jean settled down and picked up his pencil, taking a sip of the carefully prepared Macchiato and letting himself get absorbed into his work. Despite his earlier altercation he found it pretty easy to relax and slip into his comfort zone, sketching anyone he thought looked interesting, some of the coffee house itself, and then finally letting his imagination run wild as he doodled giant human like monsters. He was properly warmed up and starting his project work when he realised his coffee was empty so he got up, stretching his legs and walked back to the bar where Marco was working away creating caffeinated magic. Even though Marco had told him it was fine he still felt a bit rude leaning on the counter and waving to him awkwardly.

“Oh hey Jean, refill?” Marco asked sunnily and Jean nodded apologetically

“If you’re not too busy, thanks!”

“It’s no hassle” the freckled barista was soon whipping him up another macchiato with ease.

“Thanks dude, it’s nice working in here, Good lighting”

“Yeah it’s quite a chilled out place, most of the time!”

Marco soon passed him another cup with extra cream and Jean grinned

“Thanks a lot”

“No worries!”

The rest of the afternoon passed pleasantly and soon Sasha was finished, hanging up her apron and coming over to Jean’s table.

“You ready for dinner?”

“Oh yeah, sure” Jean cleared up his sketching supplies and swigged the last of his drink “let’s go”

“See you later Marco!” Sasha called, turning and waving goodbye. Marco waved back with his ever-present smile

“See you Friday Sash!”

“Oh thanks for the drinks and all, was nice to meet you” Jean nodded and gave a small wave which Marco reciprocated

“It was no bother, nice to meet you too! See you again around here soon hopefully!”

“You bet!”

The two walked out of the coffee house and Sasha let out a deep sigh of happiness

“Thank god I’m done for the day! I’m so hungryyyy where do you want to go?”

“You pick, you’re paying after all” Jean grinned getting his keys out “Oh and by the way your co worker Eren is an enormous shit head”

“Oh god, I heard he said you had a horse face. Honestly he’s so shitty with customers, I think you’re a handsome horse”

“Fuck you”

Sasha giggled buckling her seatbelt “I’m sorry though, you’re not mad are you?”

“With Eren yeah, asshole. But nah it’s fine, not your fault. Plus your other co worker is really nice, Marco? He’s really cool”

“I love Marco! He is such a sweetheart! He’s the nicest guy ever he’s like a big brother to everyone at work”

“Yeah he seems pretty chill, definitely helped calm me down I was ready to throw hands at that bitch Eren”

“I can see this is going to the the start of a beautiful friendship between you and Eren”

“Don’t make me get the book out again”

“Not the book of disappointment!”

....

“I’m so excited!” Sasha screeched as she ran room to room getting ready, the cheesy club music pounding from Connies laptop.

It was Wednesday and everyone’s favourite night of the week, student night.

Tonight was the night where everyone converged at the local club to dance and chug down cheap drinks. That was of course after hours of getting ready and more drinking at home to help get loaded up on the cheap, they weren’t made of money after all.

Jean sighed and ran a hand through his hair, he had been ready for ages in his nicest jeans and a white shirt, he was sat on the couch drinking a beer with Connie while Sasha ran around finishing getting dressed. Honestly student night was always a bit of an adventure for him. Always staying sober enough to dig Connie and Sasha out of whatever trouble they got themselves into.

“Okay I’m ready!” Sasha finally barrelled in “let’s gooooo!”

A cheap taxi ride later they were showing their student cards to the bouncer before walking up the stairs to the club, the walls already shaking with the music.

“Some people from class should be here!” Sasha trilled as they walked into the main room which was already packed with students drinking and dancing.

“Beer?” Connie offered and Jean nodded, if Connie was paying he was going to take advantage!

Mikasa was here, he noticed wistfully. She was a girl he had seen around campus and had learned her name through Sasha, they had never spoken but she was so pretty with her long dark hair and dark eyes he couldn’t help but admire her. He wanted to ask her to dance but he hardly knew her. Was it weird? Or was he just too self conscious, maybe he needed to drink more. I mean this was a club, for dancing. This was probably the least weird time to talk to someone you wanted to get to know, right?

Sasha was already chatting enthusiastically to a short blonde girl and Connie was dragging Jean to the dance floor. Well he might as well enjoy the night, before Connie and Sasha became liabilities.

.....

Everyone was at the merry stage of the night and Jean had already been introduced to a huge amount of new people who were now laughing and dancing with the group.

Reiner was a burly jovial guy who did engineering, his friend Berthold was a slightly awkward but nice guy from Mechanics, the blonde girl Annie was in fashion. That surprised Jean she looked like she could break a man with her bare hands. Hitch was a bubbly but slightly stuck up seeming girl but she immediately brought a round of drinks for everyone which endeared her to Jean greatly. Her friend Marlowe seemed more serious than her but was a nice and sincere seeming guy.

It was cool meeting more people finally, Jean hadn’t exactly gone out of his way to make new friends making student night a little bit awkward. But now this felt a lot more like the student life he expected and hoped it would continue in the coming weeks.

“Oh hey Armin!” Annie greeted a blonde boy as he walked past and he immediately smiled when seeing her

“Annie hey!”

“This is my boy Armin!” Annie yelled over the music and Jean, Connie and Sasha all greeted him

“Nice to meet you!”

“Who are you with?” Annie asked and Armin gestured behind him

“Just Eren and Mikasa like usual”

“Mikasa”

“Eren”

Jean and Annie said their names with equal venom

“That little prick is here?”

“That beast is here huh?”

“Hey Eren!” Sasha yelled waving and Jean huffed angrily

“Hey! Ohhh what do you know horse Geeeen is here!” Eren grinned and Jean scowled daggers at the inebriated boy

“Piss off, you have a death wish or something?”

“Annie”

“Mikasa”

The girls greeted each other with increasingly frosty tones

“Come on guys let’s go dance” Armin sounded nervous and tried to lead his friends away

“Time to giddy up” Eren smirked

“Break a leg” Annie shot at Mikasa

“Guys let’s.. uh...” Sasha floundered

“BEEER!” Hitch broke the tension with a loud cry before shoving bottles of beer into everyone’s hands “come on let’s daaance!”

The trio had disappeared and Jean clicked his tongue in annoyance

“What a little prick”

“Glad he’s taken that bitch with him”

“Wait what’s your beef with Mikasa?” Jean turned to Annie “She seems really..”

“Oh no you don’t” Annie’s glare gave him shivers “you’re too good for that wench, she’s an enabling, emotionless void who needs to grow her own personality. One that’s not just being in love with Eren, it’s creepy”

“R-right...”

Annie could definitely break a man. Note, do not upset Annie or you risk being snapped over her knee like a KitKat.

“Dont worry Jean we will help you find a nicer girl” Reiner grinned slinging his arm around Jean’s shoulder

“Lets go out to the smoking area for some fresh air” Sasha suggested leading the group off the dance floor. The smoking area in truth was a large balcony type area out off the main club where people did go to smoke yes, but the majority of the people out there were just sat in groups chatting and laughing with their drinks in the much quieter space and fresh air.

“Thats better” Connie grinned snagging a table and the group sat down to chat the open air was much nicer than the stuffy club atmosphere and Jean swigged his beer as he listened to Hitch squabble playfully with Marlowe.

“Oh when I covered your shift you missed Eren picking a fight with Jean” Sasha giggled and Hitch immediately fixed her attention on Jean

“Oh man, what did that little shit do now?”

“You work at the coffee house too?” Jean asked in surprise, Hitch seemed pretty loaded. More so than what coffee shop wages would provide

“Yeah” Hitch rolled her eyes “My dad said that as long as I prove myself responsible he will continue to fund my education soo…”

“So she does a few half assed hours at the shop so daddy continues to give her unlimited dollah” Sasha grinned and Hitch raised her beer to toast Sasha with a laugh

“Damn right doggy! Another round of beers then?”

“Yessss!"

“Cheers to that!”

.....

Marco shifted uncomfortably and fiddled with the collar of his shirt. Clubs were never somewhere he felt at home in, he never felt comfortable getting drunk amongst strangers and therefore was never drunk enough to dance. Making the whole experience kind of irrelevant.

“Are you sure I don’t look out of place?”

“Stop worrying already you look fine, cute even. You know, for a dude” Ymir rolled her eyes “Just have a drink and maybe... just maybe...have fun like a normal student for once! What a novel idea!”

“I just feel out of place like...”

“Can it freckles. You’re here with friends and soon you’re gonna be friends with way more of the losers at this school making these nights far more sociable, which is exactly what you and your overworking bookworm ass needs! Now, want a beer?”

“I don’t like beer remember”

“Urghh for fucks sake why do you have to be such a stereotypical gay Marco? What do you want? A fucking cosmopolitan?”

“Oh I’m sorry, Is that too much? I was under the impression you wanted me to come out with you tonight so you could have a **change** from your usual evenings of chopping wood in your flannel shirt drinking beer?”

Ymir held a finger up, eyes narrowed and lips pursed before she nodded

“Alright well played, vodka?”

“Make sure it’s a double”

“Fine, just don’t be uptight. This is Krista’s one night off and she wants to party so you better have some enthusiasm about it!”

Marco rolled his eyes “You know I’m only here for Krista, I’ll make sure she has fun”

“Marco!” On queue the small angel of a girl ran up to him and smiled “dance with me?”

“Of course I will” he smiled back walking to the dance floor with her. He didn’t thing he was particularly good at dancing but Krista was laughing and happy and that’s all he really cared about.

After a while Ymir came to join them and they chatted and laughed together to the music.

“Hey wanna dance?” A guy asked Krista tapping her shoulder

“Oh! I’m sorry but no thanks I’m here with my friends”

“They won’t miss you for one dance”

“But I don’t want to leave them we came to have fun together”

“Awwh come on you might have more fun with me!”

“I really must respectfully decline”

They guy still had hold of her arm and Ymir was immediately at his side grabbing his hand off Krista with a scowl

“She said no dickwad get bent”

“Who the fuck asked you?”

“Ymir please don’t fight!”

“Sorry babe but he won’t take the hint!”

“Get off me bitch”

“Hey. The lady said no, so I suggest you leave” Marco said darkly putting himself between the guy and Ymir. The guy was shorter then Marco and seemed to realise that a fight wasn’t on the cards

“Whatever dude, stop trying to white knight. Those lesbians aren’t gonna fuck you”

“I wouldn’t say no. he’s cute and all **_but_** it **would** make family dinners so awkward. What would we tell our dear mamma?” Ymir drawled with a grin and the guy looked horrified. Breaking away and finally disappearing as Marco and Krista both burst out laughing.

“Oh my god Ymir his face!”

“That never gets old”

“What can i say, I’m a genius. After hearing that nobody’s gonna stick around long enough to realise we **aren’t** related”

Krista giggled “I would totally believe you two were siblings if I didn’t know”

“It’s the power of the freckles” Marco nodded with a grin taking a sip of his drink

“Hey its Krista! Hey Girl!” The familiar voice of Sasha came from nowhere as the bundle of energy spotted Kirsta and ran over with glee

“Oh hey Sasha!! How are you?” Krista beamed hugging her back “Im so happy you’re here this is my one night off I’m so excited!”

“We are going to have the best time tonight I promise!” Sasha grinned and then waved at him too “Hey! oh my god Marco you’re actually out for once!”

“Yeah well I couldn’t say no to Krista, or Ymir she might break me”

“Im so happy to see you guys! Wanna come meet my friends?”“Sure, sounds great!” Krista nodded happily

“Why not” Ymir agreed no doubt wanting to make Krista’s night as fun as possible

“Awesome! Come say Hi, everyones so great you’re gonna love them!”

Well Ymir did say this would be a good for him, the point was to meet new friends so he could get out more and be less awkward when he did. So he smiled at Sasha and nodded “Sounds great!”

“Hey everyone! Come meet my friends!” Sasha called to her amassed group who came to greet them. Marco smiled, hopefully not looking too awkward as he was introduced to everyone. Then someone walked over to join the group and he found himself meeting a pair of familiar eyes

“Marco?”

.....

**_“Everywhere I go bitches always know”_ **

Sasha, Connie and Hitch were screeching along with the music, the group back on the dance floor now. Everyone was a bit drunk and letting themselves go. Still it was all good fun and Jean was having a good time tonight, he had gotten to know everyone much better while outside. Hitch was bubbly and snarky but cool and Reiner was hilarious. Annie was terrifying yet Jean couldn’t help but like her, Bethold was quiet but a nice guy. The little group had been dancing and drinking together all night, Hitch kept buying drinks for them all like money wasn’t an object. Marlowe kept trying to tell her she didn’t always have to pay but she had swatted his arm away with a laugh that everyone here was a friend which had made Sasha squeal and hug her and even brought a smile to Jean’s face.

 ** _“That Jean Kirschtein has got a weenie that he loves to showwww”_** Sasha bellowed suddenly and Connie and Hitch immediately shrieked with laughter

“What the fuck!” Jean yelled “Don’t put my name in that god Damn song!”

 ** _“EVERYWHERE I GOOOO_** ” all three of them screamed along to Sasha’s new rendition of the song and Jean growled in embarrassment

“STOP! I do not!”

Annie was giving him a sceptical look

“What?! I DON'T! It’s private you can’t look!”

“I don’t **want** to look”

“Shut up!”

 ** _“When I start drinking, my dick does all my thinking_**!”

“REINER STOP JOINING IN WITH THEM”

**_“Hoes want to be seen with me! And I like them big fake titttieeeeees~””_ **

The group were in hysterics and a red faced Jean rolled his eyes, deciding to go to the bathroom in order to not have to listen through the rest of the warbling voices.

By the time he came back thankfully the song had changed and Sasha seemed to have found even more friends to introduce to the group. A short blonde girl with an angelic face waved hello at him and the boy next to her turned to follow her line of sight, Jean locked eyes on familiar freckles and his mouth dropped open in a welcome surprise.

“Marco?”

“Oh hey Jean!"

“Good to see you man, how you doing?”

‘I’m good thanks! oh! these are my housemates Krista and Ymir”

“Nice to meet you guys”

“This is so nice! I’m so glad to meet you all” Krista had a winning smile, she was like a small angel.

“Let’s dance!” Connie yelled as a new song started and the group all moved onto the dance floor together dancing and laughing. This night was going better then usual, he had actually met a lot of new people that hopefully would become friends. That’s what uni was all about right?

“I need to sit down!” Hitch yelled with a giggle after about an hour of drinking and dancing and everyone agreed making a beeline for the balcony. Nobody was fighting Ymir or Annie so thankfully a table miraculously opened up and the group crowded it squashing around it together.

“I may have drank too much” Hitch was laughing along with Sasha who was equally as tipsy.

Jean squished himself in between Marco and Connie and put his beer down on the table.

“Didn’t expect to see you here Marco!” Hitch laughed “you’re the sensible one I didn’t know you **_could_** party”

“Hey it’s not hard to be the responsible one at work amongst ** _you_** guys ” Marco quipped with a grin taking a sip of his drink “Doesn’t mean I’m ready for my pension yet”

“Oh please he usually stays at home with his slippers and tea” Ymir teased “He’s only out tonight because I made him”

“No, Krista asked me to come out!” Marco rebutted and Ymir cackled

“Same difference”

“Awhh come on don’t bully Marco” Krista scolded

“You know I’m teasing!” Ymir stuck her tongue out

“So you know Marco?” Krista asked Jean brightly and he nodded slightly

“Yeah, We met at the coffee house the other day when I ran Sasha to work”

“Oh yeah remember I told you about Eren being rude?”

“That’s all the time” Sasha interjected

“You’re the one Eren said looked like a horse?” Krista asked holding a hand over her mouth in shock

“A HORSE” Hitch screeched and Jean sighed in annoyance

“Yeah, he did I had a horse face”

“Well that’s awful, I for one think you have a distinguished face” Krista said kindly and Ymir immediately shot him a death glare

“Don’t you be getting any ideas about hitting on my Krista”

“What?! I didn’t say anything, but uh... thanks Krista?”

“You’re welcome!”

“So... Jean turned to Marco eager to get off this topic “thanks again for the other day”

“Really there’s no need to thank me” Marco smiled rubbing under his nose, he seemed to have a habit of doing that Jean noted.

“No not like for being professional, just for being nice and friendly and taking an interest and stuff. I can see why Sasha says you’re the big brother of the store”

“Ahh thanks” Marco laughed lightly “I always figure it’s better to be upbeat about things”

“Guys let’s take a selfie!!” Hitch trilled ushering them all to huddle together and then commandeering a passer by to take the photo of them instead. Jean leaned in and tried to smile even though that didn’t really come naturally to him.

“Cute!” Hitch decreed swiping through her phone “That ones going on Instagram! Usernames now people!”

“Oh that’s a cool idea! We should follow each other!” Sasha clapped “ohhh we could have a group chat!”

“Yeah our new student night squad” Reiner decreed and Annie sighed audibly

“Oh yes please! I’d love to come out with you guys every week!” Krista looked over the moon

“Well if it’s what Krista wants” Ymir agreed immediately and Marco sighed

“Every week?”

“Yes Freckles” Hitch glared “No pussying out to stay home with your blueprints and slippers. We own your Wednesdays now”

“But project work..”

“Please Marco?” Krista beseeched and he faltered, sighing he ran a hand through his hair

“I guess I’m outnumbered”

“Don’t worry dude, I’m gonna be here babysitting those two” Jean jerked his thumb in the direction of Connie and Sasha who now had their arms around each other and were singing in slurred voices “so at least there will be one person with more than one working brain cell”

Marco chuckled “I suppose you’ll have to keep me sane”

“Instagrams Now!” Hitch bellowed and Jean pulled out his phone compliantly

“Okay okay! Calm down, it’s JeanKGallery all one word no underscores”

“Oooh Mr Artiste I like your sketches!” Hitch grinned tapping away “Okay everyone else gimmie!”

Jean’s phone blew up as suddenly he was followed, tagged in the group photo which admittedly was pretty nice, everyone looked happy. Even him for once.

Hitch_Bitch is now following you

ArmouredTitan is now following you

CollossalTitan is now following you

FemaleTitan is now following you

QueenOfTheWalls is now following you

“Jesus Christ you guys” Jean grumbled at the huge influx of notifications

“What’s with the Titan names?” Sasha asked and Reiner just chuckled putting his arms around Berthold and Annie

“Just dumb nicknames from high school! It kinda stuck around!”

“Sweet now I have you all saved” Hitch grinned

“No escaping now” Reiner grinned “Your wednesday nights are going to get **_messy_**!”

“Oh my god I love this song!” Sasha jumped up suddenly as the beat of a new track started to play “Someone come dance with me!”

The table immediately cleared as almost everyone chased Sasha back to the dance floor in a wave of cheering and laughter

Jean laughed watching them go and then turned to Marco who was the only other person left

“Not going in?”

“Not yet, I prefer it out here to be honest but I guess I’m going to have to get used to parties”

“Same, I mean I like a party and all but I’m not drunk enough to dance”

Marco laughed and nodded “I know that feeling, I always feel like the most awkward person”

“You don’t seem awkward, you always seem kinda chill”

“You think so? Oh thanks!” Marco seemed pleased and smiled wider

“Yeah for sure, so how did you become friends with Krista and Ymir?”

“Oh that’s a funny story but...”

Marco was so easy to talk to, they sat and laughed as they discussed everything from their friends, families, their uni courses and hobbies. Marco was infectiously cheery though he had a no nonsense edge to his approach that Jean found refreshing. He felt like Marco was the kind of friend that would build you up but also tell you to stop being a twat when you were out of order.

He learned about how he loved architecture because he found a joy in the simplicity of plotting buildings and that he wanted to build his own house one day. He was from a town called Jinae and wasn’t really close to his parents so he worked at the coffee house to support himself. He loved music, reading, and had a soft spot for animals, in particular he wanted a dog or cat after uni when he got his own place. He also had a soft spot for certain video games he refused to mention that got Jean curious.

Jean in turn told him all about being an only child growing up with his mom in Trost, he didn’t know his dad well. He shared his love for sketching because It was a way of putting down your thoughts and feelings without having to talk to another person and Marco cracked up laughing at that. They had so much to talk about the conversation flowed naturally until finally his phone rang, loudly vibrating against his leg

“Oh shit lemme check that” pulling out his phone Jean realised 2 hours had passed and Connies name flashed up

“Hey Connie what’s up?”

“I need you Jean! Sasha is crying over her chips!” Connie sounded emotional and Jean sighed rubbing his forehead in exasperation

“Where are you?”

“Out front! Please come soon it’s... it’s so sad!”

“Fine! Just stay there” Jean commanded before hanging up

“What was that all about?” Marco looked amused and Jean groaned

“I left them unsupervised for too long, Sasha’s crying over her cheesy chips or something. I need to go take those idiots home”

“You’re a regular mother hen” Marco laughed and Jean shook his head

“More like village idiot wrangler. I have to shoot but it was great hanging out”

“Yeah same! I had fun” Marco smiled and his whole face lit up “I guess I’ll see you next Wednesday?”

“Looks like it, I feel like I signed a blood oath”

“Pretty close. Ymir will break our arms if we bail” Marco said far too cheerfully as though that were a normal occurrence

“Well I do need my arm for drawing”

“Same, so guess we have no choice”

“I’ll see you next week then, have a good rest of the night yeah?”

“You too, get home safe okay” Marco gave him a brilliant smile, did he ever stop smiling?

Jean finally found a drunken sobbing Sasha sat on the kerbside crying about dropping her cheesy chips in the gutter.

10 minutes later Jean had fixed her some replacement chips and a cab before finally getting home and ushering his two drunken idiots up to their rooms. He really was a mother hen he sighed to himself as he finally went to get to bed himself changing into his sleepwear.

But still, after looking at the group Instagram photo with a small smile - he couldn’t say the night hadn’t been thoroughly enjoyable after all.


End file.
